Phil Musson's career in social work has been one of continual development from student to skilled practitioner to training officer to snr. lecturer. He readily acknowledges that social work is a demanding occupation at both emotional and intellectual levels. He also acknowledges a sense of privilege in having spent the majority of his working life as a social worker and latterly as a facilitator in the learning and development of others' who are or wish to become qualified social work practitioners also. It is, he believes incumbent on the practitioner to have a conscious and deliberate understanding of why and how they intervene in the lives of their service users and he hope this book will make a valued contribution toward that understanding.